


In Full Bloom

by Maverick



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Gen, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:28:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25762891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maverick/pseuds/Maverick
Summary: Nile's mid-year review.AKA: Nile finds her place on the team.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 27
Kudos: 335
Collections: Joe and Nicky





	In Full Bloom

**Author's Note:**

> Title from a Rumi quote: _Why should I be unhappy? Every parcel of my being is in full bloom._
> 
> Thanks again to Pollitt for beta and general awesomeness, especially since I keep dropping stories on her weekly after not writing anything since 2016. This one is for her. 
> 
> Andy/Baked Goods continues as a theme. Brunch items taken from [Wulff & Konstali](https://www.wogk.dk/en/home)

They've been in Copenhagen for the last four days waiting for Copley to get them intel for their next job. The upside of Nile’s new immortality is traveling all over Europe with people who spoke most of the languages. They seemed to be picking safe houses in countries by whatever food Andy was craving. Joe and Nicky encouraged this indulgence and she really couldn’t blame Andy for wanting to eat food that brought her joy. Nile liked Denmark, though, and she loved the fiskefrikadeller they had for dinner last night. She’d had a crab cake when she was younger that tasted like sawdust and paste, so she was happily surprised at the moist, succulent fish cakes. So far, the team had not steered her wrong food-wise or otherwise. She felt like she was gaining her footing more each day. 

They were staying in an apartment complex near the beach on the island of Amager. Joe had walked down to the beach to sketch the kite surfers and Andy was on the balcony drinking in the sun. Nile had stayed inside with Nicky to help prep dinner. 

They worked together chopping and seasoning all the ingredients for a casserole filled with beef, vegetables and half a bottle of red wine. Once it was in the oven, Nicky motioned for her to come sit on the couch. “Nile, I have something for you.” Nicky produced a gold chain with what looked like a reinforced clasp. “For your cross.”

On their last mission, one of the marks had grabbed at Nile’s neck and the cross her mother had given her when she shipped out was ripped off her neck. There wasn’t time to stop and pick it up. She almost cried when Joe turned around and went back out into the corridor, taking several more bullets to retrieve it for her. And now Nicky was presenting her with a chain. 

“It should hold up better than your last one. It was made by a friend in Arezzo,” he said. “He’s spent many years perfecting this pattern so it does not break easily.” 

“Italy?” 

Nicky nodded. “Yes. It’s a small town outside of Florence. He sells his wares on the Ponte Vecchio.”

“Old bridge?” Nile asked, pretty sure she’d gotten it right. Her Italian was coming along. 

“Very good,” Nicky gave Nile a thumbs up. “It’s a famous jewelry market in Florence.” 

“Thank you Nicky. It looks beautiful and sturdy.” She pulled the cross out of her pocket and handed it and the new chain to Nicky. “Will you fix it for me?”

“Of course.” 

Nile smiled. “I didn’t like not being able to wear it.” Her eyes darted to where Andy was now doing tai chi on the balcony. “Don’t tell Andy.” Joe and Andy had had words in a language that Nile couldn’t identify because Joe had gone back. She was so grateful he did, but she didn’t want to be the cause of conflict within the team. 

“Your secret is safe with me, but please don’t let Andy’s disapproval dictate your beliefs.”

Nile nodded. “Easier said than done.” 

“She is a force of nature.” Nicky paused and turned to watch Andy for a second before turning back to Nile. “She told you God doesn’t exist, correct?” 

Nile nodded. “On the plane when she kidnapped me to meet you guys.”

“It’s funny. Andy has her own set of dogma and just because she’s old as dirt,” Nicky said with a wink. “It doesn’t mean her’s is the only way.” 

“You still believe?”

Nicky nodded and released the end of the clasp so he could thread the cross through. “I do. Not in the way I did, not like the young priest who thought he had to kill and die in the name of God.” Nicky paused.” I have a very complicated relationship with religion.” 

“Why complicated?” 

“I thought I’d been called by God. I was a true believer. I was not in it for profit or glory. I believed I needed to travel to Jerusalem to fight the infidels.”

“To fight Joe?” Nile asked. 

Nicky gave Nile a pained smile and a stiff nod. “I had dreams of him. Not like the dreams we share. I dreamed of this beautiful bearded man with a curved sword cutting swaths of men in his wake. A look of divine fury lighting his face. I thought this is the face of my enemy and while he has the look of righteous glory, he is wrong in his beliefs and it is my duty to show him the way to God.”

“And then you met him.” 

Nicky gave Nile another pained smile. “And then I met him and we killed each other.” 

“Many times,” Nile finished. “Was it like your dream?”

Nicky shook his head. “Not at all. It was anticlimactic? Is that the word?”

Nile nodded. 

“We recognized each other. He had been dreaming of me as well. I thrust my sword forward into him as he sliced his shamshir across my neck. We fell together, me on top of him and our blood turned the sand crimson as we died.” 

“Wow.”

“Then we woke up sometime later surrounded by dead bodies. We looked into each other's eyes and proceeded to kill each other again.” Nicky met Nile’s eyes. “By the third time. We realized something was off.” 

Nile chuckled. “Ya think? Why was it anticlimactic? That sounds pretty harrowing.” 

“Because when I killed him, I didn’t feel like I was doing God’s bidding. If anything, I felt like killing him was the worst type of blasphemy. It just felt wrong.” 

“So your dream was just a dream?” 

For the first time since the conversation began, Nicky's smile was missing the tinge of pain. “No, it came to pass. But much later. That first dream turned out to be a vision of Joe protecting me from mercenaries sent to fight in the Fourth Crusades. There had been an ambush and I had died. I awoke to Joe taking out the whole rank of fighters with all the fury I dreamt about.”

“I shouldn’t find that romantic, should I?” Nile asked, nudging Nicky with her shoulder.

“I am not one to judge. I am of the belief that everything Joe does is romantic, except maybe his inability to not track sand into the flat.” 

Nile laughed. “So you still believe in God. What about Joe?”

“Joe believes as well. He can speak more to his view of his God. And if you ask, he will. For quite some time.”

Nile laughed again. 

“We try to live by the tenets of our fatihs forged so long ago, which when put side-by-side are remarkably similar. Do good, give back, love all, and help those who need it.”

Nicky motioned for Nile to lean forward so he could put the necklace around her neck. “Your faith is a blessing. Andromache may never understand it, but it’s not her’s to question.”

Nile squeezed Nicky’s hand. “Thank you.” 

Nicky straightened the cross so it lay flat against Nile’s sternum. “It looks beautiful. Where it’s supposed to be.” 

Nile threw her arms around Nicky and hugged him. “I wasn’t talking about my necklace. Thank you.” 

Nicky returned the hug. “You are very welcome, Nile. I am going to walk down to the beach to collect my beloved. Will you keep an eye on the casserole for me.” 

“Of course. Now go get Joe and have him take his shoes off in the hallway.”

Nicky laughed his way out the door.

~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, Nile found herself watching Joe and Nicky tell a story like they were one unit instead of two people. One would stop talking and the other would pick up the thread in the next breath. It was kinda creepy. She lost the plot of the conversation about three exchanges ago. She turned to Andy, “Do they ever fight?”

“Yes, they do.” Andy said, amused. 

“Not about important things,” Joe and Nicky said together, basically proving Nile’s creepy point. 

“Find somewhere else to be when Eurovision is on,” Andy said with a look of someone who had seen _things_.

Nile narrowed her eyes. “The singing contest?”

“It’s not just a singing contest. It's been around since the 1950s,” Joe said helpfully. 

“It’s a true expression of creativity of all things European. It is beautiful,” Nicky added, again showing how they spoke as a unit. 

Andy looked at Nile imploringly. “They say that now, but they both have very strong feelings about the contestants and they don’t always agree.”

“Really?” Nile was intrigued. 

“My love usually has such good taste but sometimes his passion gets the better of him,” NIcky said, his eyes on Joe. 

“And my _love_ has the most beautiful singing voice, but his taste in musical groups is shit.”

Well that was interesting, Nile thought. 

“I told you,” Andy said. 

Joe continued. “My passion? Really? I thought you appreciated my passion in life.” 

Nicky rolled his eyes. “You threw a TV out the window Joe.” 

“Sweden was robbed.” 

“Please, every band, every year is an ABBA wanna be and who the hell would want to be ABBA?”

Joe looked like he’d been slapped. “How could you say that? Think of ‘Waterloo.’”

“And now would be the time for us to leave,” Andy said, rising from the sofa and assessing the room like the start of an op. 

Nile, on the other hand, was struck still, horrified at their taste in music. She turned and whispered to Andy. “Is ‘Waterloo’ really their song.”

Andy shook her head and laughed. “Not in the least. They pranked then tortured Booker with it for most of the 80s.” Andy ushered Nile toward the door. “Don’t worry, he deserved it.” 

Nicky and Joe were raising their voices again, this time it was something about Elvis. “Are they gonna be okay?”

Andy snorted. “They’ll be fine. Let’s go to that small plate brunch place down the road. I want to try those poppy seed waffles. And I bet between the two of us, one of us can flirt our way up to the top of the waitlist.”

Nile was hungry. “Okay.” 

“We’ll give them a few hours alone while we eat our fill.”

Nile grabbed her backpack. “So they’ll be finished fighting by then?”

And snorted. “No. They’ll be finished fighting in about three minutes. They’ll be finished fucking by then.” 

At that moment, Nicky said something rapid fire in Italian, rushing Joe -- using his body weight to pin him against the wall. Joe let himself be pinned, his eyes aglow with equal measures of shock and amusement, like he was delighted in the fact that Nicky could still surprise him. Or maybe because Nicky could manhandle him. Soon Joe slid his hands down the back of Nicky’s pants, grabbing tight, pulling Nicky even tighter against him. 

They both were smiling now, argument giving way to something more, something beautiful. Nile felt like she shouldn’t be watching but she also couldn’t look away. So yeah, time to go, She shook her head. “Oh, wow. Okay. Brunch it is.” 

When they arrived, they both picked several items per the concept and Nile had enjoyed every one of them. “How’s your waffle? Nile asked. “I’m enjoying the hell out of this watermelon gazpacho.”

Andy smiled. “It’s delicious. I think I’d ask for extra pistachio crunch next time.” 

“Sorry you couldn’t get your mimosas,” Nile said, taking another sip of her latte.

Andy smiled again. “No worries, we’ll buy juice and champagne on the walk back to share with the boys.” 

“Are we going to bring them food?”

“Probably not a bad idea. I have a feeling they’ll have worked up an appetite. We’ll get an assortment of pastries. Joe will appreciate the cardamom roll for sure.” 

“Shouldn’t they be buying us brunch for sexiling us?” Not that Nile really minded.

Andy laughed. “Sexiling? I love that. The word, I mean. Though I can’t begrudge them a little happiness. Can you?”

It was Nile’s turn to smile. “No, I agree.” She still couldn’t fathom how two people could still be so in love after 900 years but she was happy they had each other. 

Andy got quiet all of a sudden and Nile found herself looking around for trouble. She didn’t see any. 

“So Nile,” Andy started then stopped. “How are you feeling about the team and your place in it?” Andy set her fork down and fixed her eyes on Nile’s face to gauge her reaction.

What the hell? Nile took a sharp intake of breath and let it out. “Is this like my mid-year review?” she said, now really wishing there had been alcohol.

Andy shook her head and tried to hide her amusement. “No. I only do mid-century reviews.” 

Nile laughed, feeling a bit more at ease. “Why the questions then?”

“A couple of reasons. The first is I don’t think I checked in with Booker enough. He was hurting and I missed it.” 

“You were hurting too.” 

Andy smiled. “Thanks for that, but it’s still on me. The other reason is that it’s looking like the job after this one is going to be in the States. I wanted to see if you were okay with going back there.”

“Not Chicago, right?” 

Andy shook her head. “No, not Chicago. Texas. El Paso.”

Nile nodded. “Then I’m okay with it. I don’t think I could handle anywhere close to home yet. I would want to go see my mom and brother. I don’t think I could stop myself.” 

Andy smiled again and reached out to cup the back of Nile’s neck and gave it a quick squeeze. “I get it. I promise we won’t put you in that position.” 

“Thanks.” And Nile was genuinely grateful. “And to answer your question. I’m feeling good about the team. It took a few missions but I now feel like I have something to contribute.” 

Andy laughed. “Nile, you have been contributing since day one. We are lucky to have _you_.”

“Does that mean I get a raise?” Nile teased. 

Andy threw her head back and laughed, like Nile had surprised her. “Sorry, no. Those only happen at mid-century as well.” 

Nile smiled. “Oh well. Wanna split another waffle?” 

“With extra pistachio crunch?” 

“Of course.”

~*~*~*~*~

Joe met Nile at the apartment door and steered her away before she could enter it.

“Are you kidnapping me?”

“Yes, Nile. That’s a gun at your back instead of my guiding hand,” Joe deadpanned. “I need your help.”

They entered the complex’s elevator. “You need my help. Not Nicky? Or even Andy?”

“Not today. They would complicate things.”

“Okay.” As they exited the elevator, Nile surveyed the area and then checked the pockets of her backpack for extra clips. She went to pull out her gun.

Joe stopped her and smiled “Okay?”

Nile shrugged. “You asked for help. That’s what family does. Where are we going and who do I need to kill?”

Joe laughed and swung his arm around her shoulder as they exited the building. “No killing needed. We are going to meet Copley.”

They walked down the sidewalk to the main thoroughfare. Joe sat down at an outside table at a nearby cafe. Nile sat across from him so they had views of both directions. “Why couldn’t Andy or Nicky come with us?” 

The waiter approached and Joe ordered Nile a mocha and himself an espresso in Danish. Once the waiter was out of range, he addressed Nile’s question. “Because I’m going to skirt the line of the deal we made on Booker and I need you to witness that I did not violate our agreement.”

Nile’s eyes got big. “You want me to lie to Andy? To Nicky?” 

Joe laughed, loud and unapologetic. “Fuck no. One, you are a terrible liar. Two, Andy would literally kill me for corrupting you. And three, Nicky would look at me with sad eyes and I’d want to kill myself for putting that look on his face.”

That made sense. “Then what’s the plan?” Nile asked

“We’ll tell them when we get back.”

Nile raised an eyebrow. “We’ll?”

Joe smiled. “I’ll tell them.” 

“Better. What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you when Copley gets here.” 

Nile lifted her chin to indicate someone was approaching. “Here he comes now.” 

Copley sat down in the third chair. “Ms. Freeman. Joe. You are looking well. To what do I owe this summoning? The intel won’t be ready for at least another week.” 

“I know,” Joe said, automatically looking around to see if Copley was alone. “I brought you here on another matter. Have you been keeping track of Booker?”

Copley looked from Joe to Nile. “I thought all mention of Mr. Booker was verboten?”

“Answer his question,” Nile said. She still felt pretty salty toward Copley. She blamed him for Booker’s exile. 

The waiter brought their coffees and took Copley’s order. “I know the general vicinity that he is in,” Copley said

Joe held up his hand in a stop motion. “I don’t want to know where. But I need you to check in and make sure he’s okay.” 

Copley nodded. “May I ask why?”

Joe took a deep breath. “What’s the expression, I have a gut feeling. Last time I had this gut feeling, we lost Quynh.” 

Okay, now Nile understood why it had to be her here instead of Andy and Nicky. 

“I am to assume you do not wish for me to engage with Mr. Booker?” Copley asked. 

“Correct. General surveillance and then the team will decide next steps after we review what you find.” 

“Do you think his life is in danger?” Nile asked. 

Joe shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m still pissed at the guy, but I don’t want anything to happen to him. He’s still family.” 

Nile squeezed his hand. “We’ll figure it out.”

The waiter brought Copley’s espresso. He downed it in one swallow. “I’ll let you know what I find out.” 

Joe put out his hand to shake. “Thanks for flying in.” 

Copley laughed and shook Joe’s hand. “I didn’t really have a choice, did I?”

Joe looked him straight in the eye. “You did. You made the right one.” 

Copley tipped his head and walked away. 

Joe turned back to Nile. “I don’t want you to worry.” He motioned for the waiter to come over to pay. 

“Yeah, cause making Copley fly in from London for a three minute conversation isn’t something I need to worry about.” 

“I could just be fucking with him,” Joe said, pulling out his credit card. 

“You’re not.” 

“I’m not, but it could just mean that Booker’s already excessive drinking has hit a new level.” 

Having paid, they stood up and Joe held out the crook of his elbow for Nile to weave her arm through. They started walking back toward their apartment arm-in-arm. “You know it’s funny. I knew exile would be the worst kind of punishment for Booker, but I didn’t understand how hard it would be for us as well.”

“You miss him?”

“Every day. It feels like an essential part of us is lost. Phantom limb.” Joe stopped and turned to Nile. “It feels very much like it did when we searched and searched and couldn’t find Quynh.”

Nile met Joe’s eyes. “That’s not this. Copley will check in and if Booker’s in trouble, then my vote is to find him and help.”

“Mine too.” They continued walking. 

“Plus I’m pretty sure you have ways to convince Nicky,” Nile said with a friendly shove against Joe’s arm.

Joe laughed. “That I do, but I don’t think they’ll be necessary. If Booker is in trouble, Nicky will want to help. Andy will too.” 

“Good, we gotta plan. And now we just gotta face the music and fill them in.” 

“We?”

“Yeah, _we_. I got your back, Joe.” 

“Booker was right about one thing.”

Nile cocked her head and waited. 

“He said you’d be good for the team and he was right.” 

“Yeah, he was.” Nile was finally beginning to believe it.

~*~*~*~*~

Nile woke gasping for air. Recurring nightmares were one of the shittest side effects of immortality for sure. But this dream was different. She got out of bed and pulled on her hoodie and walked across the hall to Joe and Nicky’s room. From that first night, they told her to come to them if the dreams were too much. At first she worried she'd get shot by mistake, but Nicky might wake ready for a fight, but he could assess a situation quicker than Nile thought possible.

She watched them sleep for a moment. Even in their large bed, Joe was still tucked up against Nicky’s back, nose against his nape and his arm curled to rest upon Nicky’s heart. Nicky’s hand covered Joe’s. She tapped her fingers on the doorframe. “Guys.” 

Nicky was awake in an instant, Joe soon followed, giving Nicky’s side a gentle squeeze. “Nightmare?” Nicky asked. 

“Afghanistan or Quynh?” Joe asked on the next breath. 

“Quynh.”

Nicky motioned for Nile to come into the room and sit on the bench at the end of the bed. He shifted the covers and pulled his knees to his chest. “I’m sorry Nile, that must be horrible to see over and over again.” 

She walked over and sat down, crooking her knee so she could face them. She really didn’t know how to tell them with any sort of grace. “No guys. It was different. So very different.”

Joe must have been able to read something on her face and was sitting upright now, his hand on Nicky’s knee. “Different how?”

Nile just dove in. “She wasn’t in the iron coffin anymore. She was wearing modern clothes. I saw flashes of a city. Guys, I think she’s in Paris.” 

The three of them looked at each other all wearing the same grim expression. This changed everything. How the hell were they going to tell Andy?

**Author's Note:**

> I have only experienced Eurovision through short clips of songs and the eyes of a friend who lived in Europe and was awestruck by the passion and partisanship of her compatriots and their vigorous defense of their favorites. 
> 
> Apologies to ABBA, ABBA fans and well Sweden. I have no idea if contemporary Swedish contestants do indeed sound like ABBA. I just know Joe thinks you were robbed of the crown. 
> 
> Things I learned after making the "Waterloo" joke. 1.It was actually ABBA's Eurovision entry in 1974 and 2. The battle of Waterloo was 1815, which was after Booker would have been found by the team. That said, I still believe Joe and Nicky would have teased him with the song and he would have deserved it.


End file.
